Although riparian areas occupy only 1-2 percent of arid and semi-arid lands, they are disproportionately important in the provisioning of ecosystem services. Streamside vegetation strongly influences fish populations, water temperature, sediment, chemistry, and water table elevation. For example, riparian areas provide habitat for a variety of animals including big game, song-birds, reptiles, and fish. They also play a beneficial role in storing and cleaning water. Moreover, riparian areas can be indicators of the general condition and stability of contributing watersheds.
Because of the desirable role of riparian areas as an indicator of watershed functionality and as a resource for wildlife and humans alike, there are a number of laws, guidelines, and initiatives that dictate management of riparian areas on federally owned lands of the United States. The United State Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDA-FS) and The United States Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management (USDI-BLM) both require an assessment of riparian area condition before grazing allotment renewals are made.
Monitoring of riparian areas in relation to these laws and guidelines is often difficult. Riparian areas are linear geographic features that traverse large areas. Traditional localized riparian monitoring that focuses on a single point can adversely affect management policy by focusing management of that location instead of the entire watershed. The scattered nature and limited accessibility of riparian areas can result in high monitoring costs for data with limited extrapolative value. Additionally, high spatial and temporal variation of riparian areas further complicates efforts to adequately evaluate riparian areas relative to management prescriptions (e.g., grazing).
The present application relates to one or more of the above issues.